Pages

Thursday, 10 March 2016

Hey there! As I'm sure all of you are aware of, clear stampers are here and they have revolutionized the stamping game. I believe the Canadian company, Clear Jelly Stamper, was the first to bring these stampers to market and thank goodness she did. I purchased her original stamper and loved how easy it made stamp placement. However the original stamper was quite firm so she now has a new softer Crystal Clear stamper available and it is AWESOME! A few weeks ago I couldn't resist raving about it in a Sunday stamping challenge post so now I'm finally giving it a more thorough review along with four of the CJS stamping plates. These plates are mostly made for the layered type of stamping (stamping one image on top of another to create a decal-style image without the fuss) or centered stamping that are now possible thanks to actually being able to see how to place images.

The Crystal Clear Stamper is the latest of Clear Jelly Stamper's line. Compared to the original, the stamping head is much softer so it's no longer necessary to roll the image onto the nail. The photo below is me pushing on the head without much pressure at all (I'm too worried about breaking my favourite too stamper to push it to its limits).

The handle is completely clear. This allows so much more light to get in so I don't have the distance perception problems that I had when I used the purple-handle stamper. This photo is taken down the handle of the stamper. How perfect is that?! Sorry I'm raving again. I seriously love this thing.

To test out the stamper I have four of the CJS plates - CJS -05, -06, -07 and H-02 (the Easter/spring plate).

CJS-05 (Renaissance Roses) was the plate that I couldn't resist purchasing. This concept of layered stamping is completely new to me and really intriguing. Individually the images don't look like much of anything but when you stamp them on top of each other, beautiful things happen. This plate has 2 rose patterns (with 3-4 layers each), a few styles of leaves (2-3 layers), 3 other flower images and a couple of twigs.

For the mani I did using CJS-05 I started with two coats of A England Holy Grail (newer version) stamped with Mundo de Unas Chocolate (twigs), Brick, Red, Reddish and Black (roses), and Military Green, Grinch and Black (leaves). All that was made matte with Essie Matte About You.

Despite not really knowing what colors would work best for the four-layered rose (middle nail) I think this turned out really pretty. You'll definitely be seeing these roses on my blog again.

CJS-06 (By The Sea) is a nautical themed plate that I think should be very popular this summer. This plate has many layered images but also quite a few small images that don't need to be layered but that will be placed much easier with the clear stamper.

For these I started with 2 coats of China Glaze Scandalous Shenanigans or Color Club French Tip and stamped with Mundo de Unas White, Reddish, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Chocolate and Black and finished with HK Girl top coat.

The third plate I got to test is CJS-07(Feel The Love). This plate has 29 (yes, 29!) inspirational words and phrases. This is the only plate that isn't a layering plate. It's all about placement! I don't know about you but, before clear stampers, I wouldn't have been able to centre a word for the life of me. I just don't have the skills.

For my inspirational mani, I started with two coats of KBShimmer How You Dune? and doing a glitter gradient with Orly Silver Pixel. I stamped various words with Mundo de Unas Yellow, Lemon Tree, Nabu, Holland Blue and Sunflower and matte'ed with Essie Matte About You. Unfortunately Lemon Tree (index finger) ended up being a bit too light to be able to see clearly. But look how centered they are!

Lastly, CJSH-02 (Peter Cottontail's Easter Eggs) has a ton of fun easter egg images (in two sizes), in positive and negative space so you can get any color combination you want, two adorable bunnies and a few spring flowers. I think this is a genius Easter-themed plate.

I did my very early Easter mani by starting with Picture Polish Never Nude and then adding a layer of a nude jelly (Loaded Lacquer No Shirt). For stamping I used Mundo de Unas White, Grinch, Glass, Merry, Velvet, Peach, Caramel and Black. How cute is the bunny with the bowtie?!

I should end by saying I wasn't sure how to disclose this post...some I paid for, some was provided for review. Either way, everything I say (as always) is my 100% honest opinion but I thought I'd disclose the partial press sample.